Effect of Graphene Oxide sheets size in PVDF/GO composite polymers for removal hazardous dyes from water with high efficiency

Polymers are very popular in membrane science. One of these polymers are Poly Viyniliden Fluoride (PVDF) which have some good properties like chemicals stability, desirable mechanical and thermal properties. PVDF is hydrophobic polymer. Due to its hydrophobicity, water flux is very low (< 90 L/m 2h) with quick fouling. To sort these problems out, we used GO sheets, because of oxygen functional groups on the GO surface and two-dimensional structure to enhance the hydrophilicity and amount of water flux, respectively. GO can give the hydrophilic property to PVDF and increases PVDF filtration yield. In this study, we made PVDF/GO (PGO) membranes with phase inversion methods. SEM, AFM, XRD and FTIR results indicate a good dispersion of GO sheets to PVDF matrix and improvement of membrane parameters such as water flux and dyes rejection based on electrostatic interactions. GO sheets size have direct effect on water flux and filtration performance that thoroughly ivestigate in this study.

Keywords:

Water treatment , PVDF/GO composite membrane , molecular separation , electrostatic interaction , effect of GO sheets size.